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Omidyar Network was founded in June 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam in Redwood City, California. Omidyar Network is intended to expand the investment scope of the Omidyar Foundation by funding not just non-profit projects, but also for-profit ventures and public initiatives they believe promote individual self-empowerment. The Network has established a $400 million fund to be invested by 2010.
The president and chief operating officer of Omidyar Network is Iqbal Paroo.
On July 14, 2004 SourceForge.net announced that it had received a $400,000 grant from The Omidyar Network.
In addition to the corporate web site, Omidyar Network hosts omidyar.net, a community discussion board/wiki for any number of issues ranging from social justice to education to cooperatives. Members are encouraged to give positive or negative feedback to contributions, similar to eBay's feedback forum. Working documents are editable by anyone in a wiki style. The stated aim of building a community with the Network is to collectively empower people who want to make positive change in the world.
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Partners
Omidyar Network counts the following organizations as "Network Partners" (April 2006):
American India Foundation (education and livelihood projects in India)
(grants to individuals for "citizen-sector" community projects)
Backfence (hyperlocal media network)
The Balkan Financial Sector Equity Fund
BlueOrchard Microfinance Securities I
Carter-Baker Commission (US election reform)
Collaborative Drug Discovery
DonorsChoose (matching educational projects to small donors in the US)
Evdb (collaborative event database)
Federated Media Publishing (weblog publishing agents)
FreeBSD Foundation (open source operating systems)
Global Social Venture Competition (publicity and capital for social ventures)
Grassroots Media (producer of journalism for next-wave news media)
Hagar (employmment project aimed at reintegrating trafficked persons in Cambodia)
Keystone (reporting on non-profits for philanthropic investors)
Kids Voting USA (voting education in US schools)
Microcredit Summit Campaign (promoting global microcredit projects)
Microfinance Information eXchange, Inc. (The MIX)
Microfinance Securities (pool of microfinance capital)
Microvest (developing a commercial capital market for microcredit)
Modest Needs (covering one-time unexpected expenses for struggling families)
New Voters Project (US voter participation campaign)
OneWorld International (news and information network)
Project Vote (voter participation and advocacy for low-income and minority communities)
Prosper, peer to peer lending
Solar Electric Light Fund
Sourceforge.net (open source software repository and development community)
SpikeSource (certification, support and maintenance for open-source software clients)
United Villages (wireless connectivity for rural communities in developing countries)
Unitus (microfinance, microcredit -- provides expansion capital for microfinance institutions around the world)
Votewatch.us (promoting open election procedures in the US)
Voxiva (communications infrastructure for remote field workers)
WITNESS (human rights documentation production and distribution)
YouthBuild (providing job skills and remedial education to US youth through homebuilding projects)
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